
r{ 



.'X.-^ Ov_ 








Book__J53_^_ 



CHARACTER AND RESULTS 



OF 



TtlE WAR. 
HOW TO PROSECUTE AND HOW TO END IT. 



A Thrilling and Eloquent Speech 

BY 

IVIAJ.-CEN. B. F. BUTLER. 



REPORTED BY A. F. WARBURTON. 



Aftkii the return of Gen. Butler from the Department of the Gulf, 
some of the leading citizens of New York, anxious to testify their admira- 
tion of his administration of that Department, and their appreciation of 
his distin<i;uished services on other fields, united in tendering him a public 
dinner, addressing him the following letter: 

'* Xew York, Thursday, January 8, 1863. 
Major General Benjanun F. Butler, United States Army : 

"j)car Sir, — At a meeting of citizens of this city, held at the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel, on the evening of the 5th instant, for the purpose of ex- 
pressing the sense of this community in reference to the public services 
rendered by you to the country, the following resolution was unanimously 
adopted : 

" Resolved, That the loyal patriotism, indomitable energy, and great 
administrative ability shown by Major General Benjamin F. Butler, in the 
various commands held by him in the service of the country, and especi- 
ally in his civil and military administration of the duties pertaining to 
his command of the Department of the Gulf, eminently entitle him to an 
expression of approbation on the part of the citizens of Xew York. 

*' In furtherance of the views thus expressed, it was also resolved that, 
in addition to such action as may be taken by our municipal authorities, 
in extending to you the hospitalities of this Qitj, a public dinner be ten- 
dered to you by the citizens, and the undersigned were appointed a com- 
mittee to communicate with you upon the subject. 

•' We have now the honor to apprize you of the action thus taken, and 
to ask that you will meet with our citizens at a public dinner at such time, 
to be appointed by you, as may be consistent with your official duties and 
your personal convenience. 

*♦ In conveying to you this invitation, intended as a tribute of personal 
respect and esteem, we are well assured that it will not be the less accept- 
able to you as marked by a still higher significance. 



" The citizens of New York, watching the events of the war with a de- 
gree of vigilance and anxiety proportioned to the vast interests and influ- 
ence which converge toward and radiate from this great commercial centre, 
have recognized in the course pursued by you in the service and support of 
the Government, the principles which they deem most essential and indis- 
pensable to its triumph. They share with you the conviction that there is 
no middle or neutral ground between loyalty and treason ; that traitors 
against the Government forfeit all rights of protection and of property ; 
that those who persist in armed rebellion, or aid it less openly but not less 
effectively, must be put down, and kept down by the strong hand of power, 
and by the use of all rightful means, and that, so far as may be, the suf- 
ferings of the poor and misguided, caused by the rebellion, should be visited 
upon the authors of their calamities. ^Ye have seen with approbation 
that in applying these principles, amidst the peculiar difficulties and em- 
barrassments incident to your administration in your recent command, you 
have had the sagacity to devise, the will to execute, and the courage to 
enforce the measures which they demanded, and we rejoice at the success 
which has vindicated the wisdom and the justice of your official course. 
In thus congratulating you upon these results, we believe that we express 
the feeling of all those who most earnestly desire the speedy restoration of 
the Union in its full integrity and power ; and we trust that you will be 
able to afford us the opportunity of interchanging with you, in the manner 
proposed, the patriotic sympathies and hopes which belong to this sacred 
cause. 

" We are. General, with high respect, 

Your friends and obedient servants, 



Charles King, 
George Opdyke, 
Horace Webster, 
Robert Bayard, 
Fred. De Peyster, 

B. W. BONXEY, 

John Paine, 
W. F. Havemeyer, 
John J. Cisco, 
John J. Phelps, 

D. Dudley Field, 
George W. Blunt, 
Ed. Minturn, 

S. B. Chittenden, 
Elliot C. Cowdin, 
Ed. Learned, 
Morris Franklin, 

E. Nye, 

H. K. Bogert, 
H. A. Hurlbut, 
George Stevenson, 
Hobart Ford, 
Charles Gould, 
Frank E. Howe, 
Henry W. T. Mall, 
Paul Spofford, 



C. H. Marshall, 
George W. Parsons, 
Peter Cooper, 
Isaac Ferris, 
Charles H. Eussell, 
Jonathan Sturgis, 
George Griswold, 
I. N. Phelps, 
Hiram Barney, 
Denning Duer, 
Morris Ketciium, 
E. H. McCurdy, 
Ambrose Snow, 
Alex. W. Bradford, 
William G. Lambert, 
Eos. D. Hitchcock, 
Pros. M. Wetmore, 
Henry H. Elliott, 
M. H. Grinnell, 
Amos E. End, 
Jno. a. C. Gray, 
Seth B. Hunt, 
E. G. White, 
j. a. pullen, 
Hamlin Blake, 
J. H. Almy, 



L. Bradish, 
P. Perit, 
Hamilton Fish, 
John A. King, 
E. D. Morgan, 
L. B. Woodruff, 
Murray Hoffman, 
William A. Booth, 
David Hoadley, 
John E. Williams, 
E. E. 3I0RGAN, 
William Allen Butler 
G. S. Bobbins, 
Marshall 0. Egberts, 
J. D. Beers, 
b. h. hutton, 
George Folsom. 
J. F. Gray, M. D., 
Eussell Sturgess, 
Charles Butler, 
G. T. Strong, 
J. Burns, 

E. A. McCURDY, 

Isaac Sherman, 
T. T. Buckley, 
E. C. Benedict, 



YY 



N. Sands, 

E. P. James, 
S. Draper, 

A. BlERSTADT, 

L. B. Wymax, 
.M. B. Field, 

F. S. AViNSTOX, 
R. F. Andrews, 
J NO. Slcsson, 

C. H. LUDINGTON, 

Isaac JJayton, 



AVilliam C. Notes, 
Joseph Rudd, 
W. Parker, M. D. 
John Jay, 
J. Wadsworth, 
William V. Brady, 
N. Hayden, 
"William Orton, 
T. G. Churchill, 
William C. Bryant, 
D. Drake Smith, 



Shepherd Knapp, 
E. D. James, 
"SV. H. L. Barnes, 
C. A. Bristed, 
John B. Hall, 
E. AV. "Weston, 
George Dennison, 

C. E. Eobert, 
Joseph Hoxie, 
T. H. Skinner, 

D. N. Barney, 



Parke Godwin. * 
To this, Gen. P»utler, at the earliest moment consistent with his official 
duties, made the following reply : 

llKl'LY of general BUTLER. 

Lowell, Thursday, March 2G, ls63. 

" Gentlemen,—'! Lo necessities of my position have rendered it exceed- 
inj:ly inconvenient fur me earlier to reply to your exc^uisitely courteous and 
too kind letter of aj.pruval of the administration of my command of the 
Dt'purtment of the Gulf, asking me to fix a day when 1 could meet you as 
therein proposed. 

•• W ilh every expression of j.rofoundest gratitude for your invitation to 
j.artake of a public dinner with the citizens of New York, allow me to 
buirgest that while i am waiting orders to join my brave comrades in the 
field, it would not be consonant with my sense of duty to accept your flat- 
tering hospitalities. . i i i i 

•• To vuu. gentlemen, at home bearing your share of the burdens and 
expenses* of this unholy war, forced upon us by treason, the tendering of 
.such an expression of approbation of the conduct of a public oflicer was 
fit and proper, as it was natural and customary, but my acceptance of it 
would trench ujMjn a different feeling. 1 too well know the revulsion of 
feeling with which the soldier in the field, occupying the trenches, pacing 
the sentinel's wearv path in the blazing heat, or watching from his cold 
bivouac the stars shut out by the drenching cloud, hears of feasting and 
merry-making at home by those who ought to bear his hardships with him, 
and the bitterness with which he speaks of those who, thus engaged, are 
wearing his uniform. o y r^ m: 

'• Upon the scorching sand, and under the brain-trying sun of the Gult 
coast, 1 have too much shared that feeling to add one pang, however slight, 
to the discomfort which my fellow-soldiers suffer doing the duties of the 
camp and field, by my own act. while separated momentarily from them by 
the exigencies of the public service. 

•' You will ])ardon, I am sure, this apparant rudeness of refusal of your 
most ceuerous pf..posal. but under such circumstances, I have spoken too 
bitterly and too often of the participation by absent officers in such occa- 
sions to permit myself to take part in one, even when off'ered in the pat- 
riotic spirit which breathes through your letter, desiring to testify appro- 
val of mv services to the country. 

" It wi.uld, however, give me much pleasure to testify my gratitude for 
your kindness by meeting you and your fellow-citizens in a less formal 
manner, ' interchanging the patriotic sympathies and hopes which belong 



to this sacred cause.' Perhaps, "by so doing we may do something in aid 
of that cause. Whatever may strengthen the purpose, deepen the resolu- 
tion, and fix the determination never to yield this contest until this re- 
hellion, in its roots and branches, in its causes, in its effects and designs, 
is overthrown and utterly annihilated forever, and the power of the Na- 
tional Government — with its democratizing influences and traditional the- 
ories of equality of rights, the equality of laws, and equality of privileges 
for all, as received from the fathers of the Eepublic — is actively acknowl- 
edged upon every inch of the United States territory, is an aid — nay a 
necessity — to the cause of the country. To prepare the public mind by 
doubts, or fears, or suggestions of compromises, or hopes of peace, to be 
satisfied with any thing less than these demands, is treason to country, 
humanity, and God — more foul, because more cowardly than rebellion. 

"Let, then, every loyal man join hands with his neighbor, sinking all 
differences of political opinion, which must be minor to this paramount 
interest, and pledge himself to the fullest support of the Government, with 
men and means to crush out this treason, and then, and not till then, am 
I willing to hear anything of political party. 

" Again and again returning you my grateful thanks for the courtesy 
done me by your action. alloAv me to say that I shall be in Xew York dur- 
ing the coming week, and shall be happy at any time to meet you, gentle- 
men, and my fellow citizens, in such manner as they may think fitting. 

" Most respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" Benjamin F. Butler, 

- Major-General U. S. V." 

In compliance with Gen. Butler's preferences, as expressed in the above, 
a public reception was arranged, and took place at the Academy of Music, 
Thursday evening, April 2d. The welcome then extended to the gallant 
soldier, was, in all respects, one of the most enthusiastic and significant 
ever extended to any honored servant of any people. Long before the 
hour of commencement, the house was filled in every part, our loyal wo- 
men alone almost filling the balcony and upjDcr circles. ]Mrs. Butler and 
Mrs. Banks were present, sitting in the private boxes, and upon the stage 
were General Wool, General C. M. Cla}^ and a large number of our well- 
known citizens. 

Previous to the opening of the meeting, Major-General Wool and several 
officers of his staff' entered upon the stage. His appearance was greeted 
with tremendous cheers. Goti. A¥etmore came forward and said : 

I am happy to see that this immense audience recognizes one of our no- 
blest heroes, Major-General Wool. [Cheers.] 

The applause having subsided, Gen. Wool advanced to the foot-lights, 
and said : 

SPEECH OF GEN. AVOOL. 

I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the honor of this recognition. 
I am not prepared to make a speech on this occasion. You will l^ive those 
who can speak to you better than I can do. But permit me to say what 
you already know — I am for putting down this rebellion, nolens volens, 
and will never concede to any compromise until that is. accomplished. 
[Tremendous cheers.] 

The orchestra having concluded a beautiful introductory overture, the 
Union Glee Club came forward and sang, in an excellent manner, " The 



^^r 



Sword of Bunker Hill." A loud and long encore being given by the au- 



dience, the Club sang 



" Columbia, we love thee, 
Land of the free." 



The orchestra soon struck up the enlivening strains of " Hail to the 
Chief," which gave sure indication that 

MAJ.-GEX. BUTLER 

was approaching. Soon the General made his appearance, and was re- 
ceived with long and loud continued cheers, the ladies waving their hand- 
kerchiefs, while the men strained their throats to give the gallant hero the 
reception which was so justly due him. The coup cCce.il presented on the 
General's appearance was superb. Parquet, dress circle, and galleries 
united in most uproarious cheers, and men seemed almost beside them- 
selves with demonstrative zeal. Handkerchiefs and hats were waved, and 
the uproar continued for several minutes. Silence being restored, Senator 
MoiuJAN introduced Maj-Gen. Butler to His Honor Mayor Opdyke, as 
follows : 

SPEECH OP SENATOR MORGAN. 

Mr. -Mavor, — It affords me the greatest pleasure to introduce to you 
the most efficient officer in the I'uited States service, Maj.-Gen. Benjamin 
F. liutler. [ L<md and continued cheers.] Gen. Butler advanced toward 
the Mayor, wlio cordially too:; his hand, and then addressed him as fol- 
lows : — 

SPEECH OF THE MAYOR. 

General Butler, — The gentlemen upon whose invitation you are 
here, have charged me with the agreeable duty of bidding you welcome to 
our city, and expressing to you the warm-hearted greeting, not merely of 
those present, but of every loyal heart in this luetropolis. Our citizens 
have long desired the privilege of testifying to you personally their great 
respect for your character, and their high appreciation of your public servi- 
ces. In their name 1 thank you for having now accorded them this privi- 
lege. 'Ihey have watched your public career during the present war with 
a constantly increasing interest and admiration. They saw you among 
the tirst to abandon an honorable lucrative profession, and voluntarily take 
up arms in defence of a government you loved, although it was adminis- 
tered by those whose election you had earnestly opposed. • They felt that 
no stronger evidence could bi^adduced of an exalted patriotism. 

Your lirst theatre of military service was in Maryland, a State then 
trcmliling in the balance between loyalty and treason^ and in wh-ose me- 
tropolis soldiers of the L'nion had been assassinated on their way to the 
protection of the capital. At that critical period you were fortunately 
placed in command, tirst at Annapolis and afterward at Baltimore; and it 
is. perhaps, not too much to say that it was owing to your judicious man- 
agement, in which you wisely blended moderation with firmness, that 
Maryland escaped tlie criminal folly of secession. At all events, you 
promptly subdued the outbreaks of treason in that State, and thus rend- 
ered it safe for our troops to pass through the city of Baltimore without 
molestation. 

You were next placed in command at Fortress Monroe, where you made 
the sagacious discovery that slaves were contraband of war. \w view of 



the tenderness with which our Government and its military commanders 
had up to that time treated the institution of slavery, this discovery must 
he regarded as one of the most valuable of the war, and therefore one 
which entitles you to the public gratitude. It quietly but most effective- 
ly divorced the " divine institution" of all its sancity in the presence of 
war. 

From Fortress Monroe you were transferred to a wider field of useful- 
ness, by being placed in command of the Department of the Gulf. Your 
friends knew that in a position so environed with difficulties as this, no 
ordinary commander could hope to acquit himself with credit. You soon 
found yourself, with a handful of men, remote from your base of supplies 
and from succor, in the metropolis of the Confederacy where the popula- 
tion, with few exceptions, was intensely hostile to the National Govern- 
ment ; and the moment they discovered the fidelity and ability with which 
you upheld the interests of the Government, all their intensity of hatred 
was transferred to you personally. They grossly misrepresented your acts ; 
they willfully misinterpreted your language ; they heaped on you the vilest 
epithets, and in every conceivable way labored to cover your name with 
infamy. 

The rebel Government and the rebel press throughout the Confederacy 
took up the theme and repeated these slanders, with every variation that 
ingenuity could suggest. The rebel chief, in his annual message, even 
went so far as to brand you as an outlaw, and to decree your execution 
in case you should fall into the hands of his military forces. They also 
conferred on you, I believe, the exclusive honor of offering a large reward 
for your head. Nor were the malignant slanders 1 have referred to utter- 
ed only by the rebels. Their sympathizers at the North and throughout 
Europe joined in the refrain, and re-echoed their bitter denunciations. 

Abuse from the bad, like praise from the good, affords presumptive ev- 
idence of merit. I^euce, if our Government or its true friends had been 
ignorant of your policy, they might have safely inferred, from this clamor 
of its bitter enemies, that that policy was just and wise. But, sir, the 
loyal people of the North were not ignorant of your acts or your policy. 
They saw that your capacious and fertile mind, your resolute will, your 
dauntless courage, and your earnest patriotism, rendered you master of 
the situation, and fitted you above all other men, for the difficult position 
in which you were placed. They saw that you fully comprehended your 
duty as a military commander, as a legislator, as a judge, as an executive 
officer, and as a tamer of rebel mad men ^ and mad women — for your 
sphere of duty embraced all these ; and they saw that your firm will stood 
ever ready to execute what your judgment dictated and your conscience 
approved. 

In thus acting, you strengthened the cause of your Government, which 
is the cause of justice and right. But you at the same time weakened the 
cause of its enemies, which is the cause of oppression and wrong. For 
this they hate and revile you ; for that we esteem and praise you. 

But, sir, you shocked the sensibilities of Secessia and all its partisans 
in the outer world by that terrible decree, called Order No. 28. That 
order, as I understand it, was simply intended to extend a salutary police 
arrangement, which had long existed in New Orleans, so as to bring within 
its jurisdiction and restraint the improper conduct of those aristocratic 
dames who gloried in heaping insults on the soldiers of the Union . 



/y/ 



It had the desired eifect. It improved their maimers and their modesty ; 
for which, sir, I doubt not, they will in due time return you thanks 
instead of execrations, as now. The presence of oiu' wives and daughters 
here to-night proves that the ladies of Xew York regard that far-famed 
order, both in its intention and effects, as proper and salutary. 

You gave lessons Cjually useful to the sterner sex. You taught them 
to respect the authority of the United States, and to fear its power. You 
treated as enemies of your country all who avowed themselves as such, 
and, in strict accordance with the usages of war and the laws of the United 
States, you confiscated their property and apprt)priated it to the support 
of their own poor, and in providing for the wants of your arm}-. 

By these and kindred measures you purified the moral, social, and politi- 
cal atmosphere of a city in which each had been rendered most noxious by 
the unbridled reign of treason and the vices engendered by slavery. By 
your wise sanitary regulations you also kept the material atmosphere pure, 
and thus excluded pestilence. As a former resident of Xew Orleans, I 
know that to have accomplished this in a city so uuheathy, and where all 
previous efforts in that direction had failed, must be regarded as one of 
your noblest achievements. I have little doubt that among its beneficial 
results was the preservation of the lives of at least one-half of your com- 
mand. Your troops were all unacclimated. The yellow fever prevailed 
at nearl}' all the ncigliboring ports on the Gulf and in the West Indies, 
and. but for your vigorous quarantine and strict sanitary regulations within 
the city, would have become epidemic in New Orleans. in that event, 
your whole army would have been attacked by it — for none of the unac- 
climated escape — and it is known that at least fifty per cent, of the cases 
prove fatal. 

By means like these you husbanded your small command and slender 
means in such a masterly manner that during eight months' service you 
did not call upon the (iovernment for a dollar, except for the pay of your 
soldiers ; and you turned over to your successor two thousand more troops 
than you received from your Grovernraent, with military lines embracing 
two-thirds of the population, and nearly that proportion of the territory 
of the State of Louisiana. 

The brief sketch I have thus given of your achievements in the Depart- 
ment of the (rulf might be indefinitely extended. But I have said enough 
to show that you have made a record of which any commander, however 
distinguished, might justly feel proud, and which the present and future 
generations will not fail to aj>j|i'eciate. 

We, sir, glory in the fact that our country and our institutions can, in 
an emergency, produce from private life ready-made military commanders, 
statesmen and jurists of the highest type, and all combined in a single 
individual. In your late command you haVe been called upon to exercise 
the functions a}(]»ertaining to each of these, and it must be conceded that 
you acfjuitted yourself admirably in all. As a commander you did not 
prosecute war in the spirit of peace, but with the iron-handed rigor which 
its necessities demand and its usages justify, and which is and indispensa- 
ble element of success. As a jurist and lawyer, you proved yourself a 
perfect master of every code that could be applied to the novel legal (ques- 
tions j)resented for your decision. In truth, your legal acumen was quite 
an over-match for that of the leading rebels and their sympathetic consular 
allies. But sir, it is for the statesmanlike qualities evinced by you in 



8 

this contest that your friends are disposed to award you the highest praise. 
You seem to them to comprehend most perfectly all the principles involved 
in the present contest, as well as the best means of bringing it to a suc- 
cessful issue. Your pioneer mind, like Daniel Boone, among the border 
men of the AYest, seems to keep in advance of all others. You are familiar 
with the causes that produced the war ; you have shared in its progTess, 
and have had leisure since your return from active service to take a dis- 
passionate survey of its present status and its probable future. We shall 
feel greatly obliged if you will give us your views on such of these topics 
as may be agreeable to you, feeling well assured that whatever you say 
will be marked by your accustomed originality of thought and breadth of 
knowledge, and must therefore prove both interesting and instructive. 

Without detaining you longer, General, permit me to renew my assur- 
ance of welcome, and then present you to an assemblage worthy of such a 
guest. 

The Mayor, at the conclusion of the address, again took the General 
cordially by the hand, and presented him to the assembly as one of the 
best specimens of the volunteer army of the United States. [Prolonged 
cheers.] 

General Butler acknowledged the courteous reception and spoke as 
follows : 

SPEECH OP GEN. BUTLER. 

Mr. Mayor, — With the profoundest gratitude for the too flattering 
commendation of my administration of the various trusts committed to me 
by the Government, which, in behalf of your associates, you have been 
pleased to tender, I ask you to receive my most heartfelt thanks. To the 
citizens of New York here assembled, graced by the fairest and loveliest, 
in kind appreciation of m}^ services supposed to have been rendered to the 
country, I tender the deepest acknowledgments. [Applause.] I accept 
it all, not for myself, but for my brave comrades of the Army of the Gulf. 
[Renewed applause.] I receive it as an earnest of your devotion to the 
country — an evidence of your loyalty to the Constitution under which 
you live, and under which you hope to die. 

In order that the acts of the Army of the Gulf may be understood, per- 
haps it would be well, at a little length, with your permission, that some 
detail should be given of the thesis upon which we fulfilled our duties. 
The first question, then, to be ascertained is, what is this contest in which 
the country is engaged ? At the risk of being a little tedious, at the risk, 
even, of calling your attention to what might seem otherwise too elemen- 
tar}^ I propose to run down through the history of the contest to see what 
it is that agitates the whole country at this day and this hour. 

HOW THE REBELLION HAS GROWN FROM A RIOT TO A REVOLUTION. 

That we are in the midst of a civil commotion, all know. But what is 
that commotion? Is it a riot? Is it an insurrection ? Is it a rebellion ? 
Or is it a revolution ? And pray, sir, although it may seem still more 
elementary, what is a riot ? A riot, if I understand it, is simply an out- 
burst of the passions of a number of men for the moment, in breach of the 
law, by force of numbers, to be put down and subdued by the civil author- 
ities ; if it goes further to be dealt with by the military authorities. But 
you say, sir, " Why treat us to a definition of a riot upon this occasion? 
Why, of all things, should you undertake to instruct a New York audience 



^0^ 



in what a riot is?" [Laughter.] To that I answer, because the Admin- 
istration of Mr. Buchanan dealt with this great change of aifairs as if it 
were a riot; because his Government officer gave the opinion that in 
Charleston it was but a riot ; and that, as there was no civil authority 
there to call out the military, therefore, Sumter must be given over to the 
rioters ; and such was the beginning of this struggle. Let us see how it 
grew up. I deal not now causes but with effects- — facts. 

Directly after the guns of the rebels had turned upon Sumter, the 
several States of the South, in Convention assembled, inaugurated a series 
of movements which took out from the Union divers States ; and as each 
was attempted to be taken out, the riots, if such existed, were no longer 
found in them, but they became insurrectionary ; and the Administration, 
upon the 10th of April, 1861, dealt with this state of affairs as an insur- 
rection, and called out the militia of the United States to suppress an 
insurrection. 1 was called at that time into the service to administer the 
laws in putting down an insurrection. I found a riot at Baltimore. The 
rioters had burned bridges ; but the riot had hardly arisen to the dignity 
of an insurrection, because the State had not moved as an organized com- 
munity. A few men were rioting at Baltimore ; and as 1 marched into 
the State at the head of United States troops, the question came up, 
AVhat have I before me ? You will remember that I offered then to put 
down all kinds of insurrections so long as the State of Marj-land remained 
loyal to the I'nited States. Transferred from thence to a wider sphere at 
Fortress Monroe, I found that the State of Virginia, through its organiza- 
tion, had taken itself out of the Union, and was endeavoring to erect for 
itself an independent government ; and 1 dealt with that State as being 
in rebellion, and thought the property of the rebels, of whatever name or 
nature, should be deemed rebellious property, and contraband of war, 
subject to the laws of war. [Great applause.] 

en ARC E OF POLITICAL INCONSISTENCY REFUTED* 

I have been thus careful in stating these various steps, because, although 
through your kindness replying to eulogy, I am here answering every 
cluirgc of inconsistency and wrong of intention for my acts done before 
the country. ^Vrong in judgment I may have been ; but, I insist, wrong 
in intention or inconsistent with my former opinions, never. Upon the 
same theory by which I felt myself bound to put down insurrection in 
Maryland, while it remained loyal, whether that insurrection was the work 
of blacks or whites — by the same lojalty to the Constitution and laws, I 
felt bound to confiscate slave property in the rebellious State of Virginia. 
[Applause.] Pardon me, sir, if right here 1 say that I am a little sensi- 
tive upon this topic. I am an old-fashioned Andrew Jackson Democrat of 
twenty years' standing. [Applause. A voice : " The second hero 
of New Orleans." Eenewed applause culminating in three cheers.] And 
so far as I know, I have never swerved, so help me God, from one of his 
teachings. [Great applause.] Up to the time that ^disunion took place, I 
went as far as the farthest in sustaining the constitutional rights of the 
States. However bitter or distasteful to me were the obligations my 
fathers had made for me in the compromise of the Constitution, it was 
not tor me to pick out the sweet from the bitter ; and, fellow-democrats, I 
took them all [ loud cheers] because they were constitutional obligations ; 
[applause] and sustaining them all, I stood by the South and by Southern 



10 

rights under the Constitution until I advanced so far as to look into the 
very pit of disunion into which they plunged, and then not liking the pros- 
pect I quietly -withdrew. [Immense applause and laughter.] And from 
that hour we went apart, how far apart you can judge when I tell you, 
that on the 28th December, 1860, I shook hands on terms of personal 
friendship with Jefferson Davis, and on the 28th of December, 1862, you 
had the pleasure of reading his proclamation that I was to be hanged at 
sight. [Great applause and laughter.] 

THE SOUTH FORFEITS ITS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS BY REBELLION, 

And now, my friends, if you will allow me to pause for a moment in 
this line of thought, as we come up to the point of time, when these men 
laid down their constitutional obligations, let me ask, What then were my 
rights, and what were theirs ? At that hour they repudiated the Consti- 
tution of the United States, by vote in solemn Convention ; and not only 
that, but they took arms in their hands, and undertook by force to rend 
from the Government what seemed to them the fairest portion of the her- 
itage which my fathers had given to you and me as a rich legacy for our 
children. When they did that, they abrogated, abnegated, and forfeited 
every constitutional right, and released me from every constitutional obli- 
gation, so far as they were concerned. [Loud cheers.] 

SLAVERY WAS NO LONGER UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 

Therefore when I was thus called upon to say what should be my action 
thereafter with regard to slavery, I was left to the natural instincts of my 
heart, as prompted by a Christian education in New England, and I dealt 
with it accordingly. [Immense applause.] The same sense of duty to 
my constitutional obligations, and to the rights of the several States that 
required me, so long as those States remained under the Constitution, to 
protect the system of slavery, — that same sense of duty after they had 
gone out from under the Constitution, caused me to follow the dictates of 
my own untrammelled conscience. So you see — and I speak now to my 
old Democratic friends — that, however misjudging I may have been, we 
went along together, step by step, up to the point of disunion ; and I 
claim that we ought still to go on in the same manner. We acknowledged 
the right of those men to hold slaves, because it was guaranteed to them 
by the compromise of our fathers in the Constitution ; but if their State 
rights were to be respected, because of our allegiance to the Constitution 
and our respect for State rights, when that sacred obligation was taken 
away by their own traitorous acts, and we, as well as the negroes, were 
disenthralled, why should not we follow the dictates of God's law and 
humanity? [Tremendous applause, and cries of "Bravo, Bravo."] 

LOUISIANA HAD SECEDED AND REVOLUTIONIZED. 

By the exigencies of the public service removed once more to another 
sphere of action, at New Orleans, I found this problem coming up in an- 
other form, and that led me to examine and see how far had progressed 
this civil commotion, now carried on by force of arms. I believe, under our 
complex system of States, each having an independent government, with 
the United States covering all, that there can be treason to a State and 
not to the ITnited States : revolution in a State and not as regards the 
United States ; loyalty to a State and disloyalty to the Union ; and loy- 



11 x^ 

alty to the Union and disloyalty to the organized Goverament of a State. 
As an illustration, take the troubles which lately arose in the State of 
Rhode Island, where there was an attempt to rebel against the State Gov- 
ernment and to change the form of that Government, but no rebellion 
against the L'nited States. All of you are familiar with the movements of 
Mr. Dorr ; in that matter there was no intent of disloyalty against the 
L-iiited States, but a great deal against the State Government. 

I therefore in Louisiana found a State Government that had entirely 
changed its form, and had revolutionized itself so far as it could ; had cre- 
ated courts and imposed taxes ; and put in motion all kinds of government- 
al maehinery ; and so far as her State Government was concerned, Lou- 
isiana wa? no longer in and of itself one of the United States of America. 
It had, so far as depended on its own action, changed its State Govern- 
ment, and by solemn act forever seceded from the Lnited States of Ameri- 
ca and attempted to join a new National Government, — hostile to us, as one 
of the so-called Cmfederate States. I found, I respectfully submit, a rev- 
olutionized State I There had been a revolution, by force ; beyond a riot, 
which is an infraction of the law ; beyond an insurrection, which is an ab- 
negation of the law; beyond a rebellion, which is an attempt to override 
the law by force of numbers ; a new State Government formed, that was 
being supported l)y force of arras. 

THEY ARE ALIEN ENEMIES. 

Now, I asked myself, upon what thesis shall 1 deal with this people ? 
Organized into a comuiuuity under forms of law, they had seized a portion 
of the territory of the United States, and were holding it by force of arms ; 
and I respectfully submit I had to deal with them as alien enemies. — 
[Great applause.] They had forever passed the boundary of "wayward 
sisters." or " erring brothers," unless indeed they erred toward us as Cain 
did aLCainst his brother Abel. They had passed beyond brotherhood by 
treaS'jn added to murder. Aye, and Louisiana had done this in the strong- 
est possible way, for she had seized on territory which the Government of 
the United States had bought and paid for, and to which her people could 
advance no shadow of claim, save as citizens of the United States. There- 
fore 1 dealt with them as alien enemies. [Applause.] 

THE RIGHTS OP ALIEN ENEMIES CAPTURED IN WAR. 

And what rights have alien enemies captured in war ? They have the 
right, so long as they behave themselves and arc non-combatants, to be 
free from personal violence ; they have no other rights ; and therefore, it 
was my duty to see to it, (and I believe the record will show, I did see to 
it» [great applause and loud cheers] that order was preserved, and that 
every man who behaved well, and did not aid the Confederate States, 
was not molested in his person. I held, by the laws of war, that ev- 
erything else they had was at the mercy of the conqueror. They have 
claims to mercy and clemency ; but no rights. [Cheers.] Permit me to 
state the method in which their rights were defined by one gentleman of 
my staff. He very coolly paraphrased the Dred Scott decision, and said 
they had no rights which a negro was bound to respect. [Loud and pro- ' 
longed laughter and cheers.] But, dealing with them in this way, I took 
care to protect all men in personal safety. 



12 



INDIVIDUALS MUST TAKE THE FATE OP COMMUNITIES. 

Now, I hear a friend behind me say: " But how does your theory affect 
loyal men?" The difficulty in answering that proposition, is this: in 
gofernmental action the Government, in making peace and carrying on 
war, cannot deal with individuals, but with organized communities, wheth- 
er organized wiongly or rightly [cheers] ; and all I could do, so far as my 
judgment taught me, for the individual loyal citizen, was to see to it that 
no exaction should be made of him, and no property taken away from him, 
that was not absolutely necessary for the success of military operations. I 
know nothing else that I could do. I could not alter the carrying on of 
the war, because loyal citizens were, unfortunately, like Dog Tray, found 
in bad company [laughter] ; to their persons, and to their property, even, 
all possible protection I caused to be afforded. But let me repeat — for it 
is quite necessary to keep this in mind, and I am afraid that for want of 
so doing, some of my old Democratic friends have got lost, in going with 
one portion of the country rather than the other, in their thoughts and 
feelings — let me repeat that, in making war or making peace, carrying on 
governmental operations of any sort, governments and their representa- 
tives, so far as I am instructed, can deal only Avith organized communities, 
and men must fall or rise with the communities in which they are situated. 
You in New York must follow the Government as expressed by the will of 
the majority of your State, until you can revolutionize that Government 
and change it ; and those loyal at the South must, until this contest comes 
into process of settlement, also follow the action of the organized majori- 
ties in which their lot has been cast, and no man, no set of men, can see 
the possible solution of this or any other governmental problem, as affect- 
ing States, except upon this basis. 

THE CONTEST HAS COME TO BE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND HER 

ENEMIES. 

Now, then, to pass from the particular to the general, to leave the detail 
in Louisiana, of which 1 have run down the account, rather as illustrating 
my meaning than otherwise, I come back to the question : What is now 
the nature of the contest with all the States that are banded together in 
the so-called Confederate States? Into what form has it come? It start- 
ed in insurrection ; it grew" up a rebellion ; it has become a revolution, and 
carries with it all the rights and incidents of a revolution. 

THE GOVERNMENT HAS SO TREATED IT. 

Our Government has dealt with it upon that ground. When the Gov- 
ernment blockaded Southern ports, they dealt with it as a revolution ; 
when they sent out cartels of exchange of prisoners, they dealt with these 
people no longer as simple insurrectionists and traitors, but as organized 
revolutionists, who had KCt up a government for themselves upon the terri- 
tory of the United States. 

THE RIGHT OF REVOLUTION NOT ACKNOWLEDGED. 

Sir, let no man say to me, " Ylhy, then you acknowledge the right of revolii- 
Hon in these men /'' I beg your pardon, sir ; I only acknowledge the fact of 
revolution — that which has actually happened. I look these things in the 
face, and I do not dodge them because they are unpleasant ; I find this a 
revolution, and these men are no longer, I repeat, our erring brethren, but 



13 ^'''y 

they are our alien enemies, foreigners [cheers] carrying on war against us, 
attempting to make alliances against us, attempting surreptitiously to get 
into the family of nations. I agree that it is not a successful revolution, 
and a revolution never to be successful [loud cheers], — pardon me, 1 was 
speaking theoretically, as a matter of law, — never to be successful until 
acknowledged by the parent State. Now, then, I am willing to unite with 
you in your cheers, when you say a revolution, the rightfulness or success 
of which we, the parent State, never will acknowledge. [Cheers.] 

THE LOtilCAL DEDUCTION."* FROM THIS TRUTH. 

Why, sir, have 1 been so careful in bringing doyn with great particu- 
larity these distinctions? Because, in my judgment, there are certain 
logical consequences following from them as necessarily as various corol- 
laries from a problem in Euclid. If we are at war, as I think, with a 
foreign country, to all intents and purposes, how can a man here stand up 
and say that he is on the side of that foreign country and not be an enemy 
to liis country / [Cheers.] 

A LOYAL MAN MUST BE FOR HIS COUNTRY. 

A man must be either for his country or against his country. [Cheers.] 
He cannot, upon this theory, be throwing impediments all the time in the 
way uf tlic progre.'^s of liis ( Jovcrnmeut, under pretense that he is heljting 
some other j)ortiun of his country. If any loyal man thinks that he must 
do something \m bring Ijack his erring brethren, (if he likes tliat form of 
plirase;, at the South, let liim take his mu.-^ket and p) down antl try it in 
that way. [Cheers.] If he is still of a different opinion, and thinks tliat 
is not the best way to bring them back, but he can do it by |)er8uasion and 
l.ilk, let liim go d<»wn witli me to Lotii.siana, and I will set him over to 
Mi.ssissippi. and if the rebels do not feci for his hcart-string.s but not in 
love, I will bring him back. [Cheers, loud and prolonged. " Send Wood 
downtirst'.'J Let us say to him: "Choose ye this day whom ye will 
serve. If the Lord thy God Ijc Cod. serve him ; if Baal be God, .serve ye 
him. [Cheers.] But no man can serve two masters, God and Mammon. 
j *• That's 80."] 

WE ARE NOT BOUND TO THEM BY TOLITICAL OR PARTY TIE:^. 

Again, there are other logical conse»|uenccs to flow from the view which 
I have ventured to take of this subject, and one is as regards to our relations 
from past political actinn. if they arc now alien enemies. I am bound to 
them hy no ties of party fealty or political affinity. They have passed out 
of that, and 1 think we ought to go back only to examine and sec if all ties 
of jcirty allegiance and party fealty as regards them arc not broken, and 
satisfy ourselves that it is your duty and mine to look simply to our coun- 
try and to its service, and leave them to look to the country they are at- 
tempting to erect, and to its service ; and then let us try the conclusion 
with them, as we arc doing by arms and the stern arbitrament of war. 
Mark, by this I give up no territory of the United States. Livery foot, 
that was ever circumscribed on the map by the lines around the Cnited 
States belong to us. [Applause.] None the less because bad men have 
attempted to organize worse government upon various portions of it. It is 
to be drawn in under our laws and our Government as soon as the power 
of the I'nited States can Ik? exerted f'»r that pur|)0.se, and, therefore, my 



friends, you see the next one of the logical consequences that proceed from 
our theory ; that we have no occasion to carry on the fight for the Constitu- 
tution as it is. 

NOBODY OPPOSES THE CONSTITUTION NO MAN NEED FIGHT FOR IT. 

Who is interfering with the Consiitution as it is ? Who makes any at- 
tacks upon the Constitution ? We are fighting with those who have gone out 
and repudiated the Constitution, and made another Constitution for them- 
selves. [Cheers.] And now, my friends, I do not know but I shall speak 
some heresy, but as a Democrat, and as an Andrew Jackson Democrat, I 
am not for the Union as it was. [G-reat cheering. " Good !" " Good !"] 
I say, as a Democrat, as an Andrew Jackson Democrat, I am not for the 
Union to be again as it was. Understand me ; I was for the Union, because I 
saw, or thought I saw, the troubles in the future which have burst upon us ; 
but having undergone those troubles, having spent all this blood and this 
treasure, I do not mean to go back again and be cheek by jowl with South 
Carolina as I was before, if I can help it. [Cheers. *' You're right."] 

NO PORTION OF THE UNION TO BE GIVEN UP. 

Mark me, now, let no man misunderstand me, and I repeat, lest I may 
be misunderstood — there are none so slow to understand as those who do 
not want to — mark me, I say I do not mean to give up a single inch of the 
soil of South Carolina. If I had been in public life at that time, and had 
had the position, the will, and the ability, I would have dealt with South 
Carolina as Jackson did, and kept her in the Union at all hazards, but now 
she has gon6 out, and I will take care that when she comes in again, she 
comes in better behaved [cheers], that she shall no longer be the firebrand 
of the Union — aye, and that she shall enjoy what her people never yet have 
enjoyed — the blessings of a Republican form of Government. [Applause.] 

NO RECONSTRUCTION WITH SOUTH CAROLINA TO MAKE MISCHIEF. 

Therefore, in that view, I am not for the reconstruction of the Union as 
it was. I have spent treasure and blood enough upon it, in conjunction 
with my fellow-citizens to make it a little better. [Cheers.] I think 
we can have a better Union the next time. It was good enough if it had 
been let alone. The old house was good enough for me, but as they have 
pulled down all the L part, I propose, when we build it up, to build it 
up with all the modern improvements. [Prolonged laughter and applause.] 

THE RIGHT TO CONFISCATE PROPERTY OF REBELS. 

Another of the logical sequences, it seems to me, that follow in inexo- 
rable and not-to-be-shunned sequence upon this proposition, that we are 
dealing with alien enemies, is with regard to our duties as to the confisca- 
tion of rebel property, and that question would seem to me to be easy of 
settlement under the Constitution, and without any discussion, if my first 
proposition is right. Has it not been held from the beginning of the world 
down to this day, from the time the Israelites took possession of the 
Land of Canaan, which they got from alien enemies — and is it not the 
well settled law of war to-day, that the whole property of alien enemies 
belonged to the conqueror, and that it is at his mercy and his clemency 
what should be done with it ? 



15 z/^r 

REBEL PROPERTY TO BE DIVIDED AMONG UNION SOLDIERS. 

For one, I would take it and give the loyal man who was loyal in his 
heart, at the South, enough to make him as well as he was before, and 
I would take the balance of it and distribute it among the volunteer 

soldiers who have gone [the remainder of the sentence was drowned 

in a tremendous burst of applause.] And so far as I know them, if we 
should settle South Carolina with them, in the course of a few years 
1 would be quite willing to receive her back into the Union. [Kenewed 
applause.] 

FREEDOM OF THE SLAVE CONSTITUTIONAL UNDER THE LAWS OF WAR. 

I'his theory shows us how to deal with another proposition : What shall 
Ix; done with the slaves? Here again the laws of war have long settled, 
with clearness and exactness, that it is for the conqueror, for the govern- 
ment which has maintained or extended its jurisdiction over conquered 
territory, to deal with slaves as it pleases, to free them or not as it chooses. 
It is not for the conquered to make terms, or to send their friends into the 
conquering country to make terms for them. [Applause.] Another co- 
rollary follows from the proposition that we are fighting with alien 
enemies, which relieves us from a difliculty which seems to trouble some 
of my old Democratic friends, and that is in relation to the question 
of arming the negro slaves. 

IT IS CONSTITUTIONAL TO ARM THE N?:(;R0ES. 

If tlie seceded States are alien enemies, is there any objection that you 
know of, and if so, state it. to our arming one portion of the foreign coun- 
try against the other while they are fighting us ? [Applause, and cries of 
" No I" ** No I" I Supjiose that we were at war with Kugland. AVho 
would get up here in New York and s;iy that we must not arm the Irish, 
lest they should hurt some of the Knglish ? [Applause. | And yet at 
one time, not very far gone, all those Englishmen were our gi-andfathers' 
lirothers. liither they or we erred; but we are now separate nations. 
TIktc can be no objection, for another reason, l)ecause there is no law 
of war or of nations. — no rule of (rovernmental action that I know of, — 
which prevents a country from arming any portion of its citizens; and if 
the slaves do not take part in the rebellion, they become simply our citizens 
residing in our territoiy which is at present usurped l)y our enemies to be 
used in its defence as other citizens are. [Applause.] At this waning 
hour, I do not propo.^' to discuss, but merely to hint at these various sub- 
jects. [Cries of *• do on." | 

THE NEC. ROES WILL Fir.IIT. 

There is one question 1 am fre(iuently asked, and most frequently by 
my old l)enitHTatio friends: — •* Gen. Butler, what is your experience ? 
Will the negroes fight '.'" To that 1 answer. I have no personal experience, 
because I left the JJepartment of the (iulf before they were fairly brought 
into action. But they did fight under .lackson. at Chalmette. ^Jore than 
that ; let Napoleon ill. answer, who has hired them to do what the vet- 
erans of the Crimea cannot do — to whip the ^lexicans. Let the veterans 
of Napoleon 1.. under J^e Clerc, who were whij»ped by them out of San 
Domingo, say whether they will fight or not. What has been the demoral- 
iting efFeot upon thorn as a race by their contact with white men, I know 



not ; but I cannot forget that their fathers would not have been slaves, but 
that they were captives of war, in their own country, in hand to hand 
fights among the several chiefs. They would fight at some time ; and if 
you want to know any more than that, I can only advise you to try them. 
[Great applause.] 

WE HAVE GREATER CLAIMS ON NEUTRAL NATIONS BY TREATING THIS AS A 

REVOLUTION. 

Passing to another logical deduction from the principle that we are car- 
rying on war against alien enemies, (for I pray you to remember that I am 
only carrying out the same idea upon which the Government acted when 
it instituted the blockade,) I meet the question whether we thereby give 
foreign nations any greater rights than if we considered them as a rebel- 
lious portion of our country. We have heretofore seemed to consider that 
if we acknowledged that this was a revolution, and the rebels were alien 
enemies in this tight, that therefore we should give to foreign nations 
greater apparent right to interfere in our affairs than they would have if 
the insurgents were considered and held by us as rebels only, in a rebel- 
lious part of our own country. The first answer to that is this: that so 
far as the rebels are concerned, they are estopped to deny that they are ex- 
actly what they claim themselves to be, alien enemies; and so far as for- 
eign nations are concerned, while the rebels are alien to us, yet they are 
upon our territory, and until we acknowledge thera, there is no better set- 
tled rule of the law of nations, than that the recognition of them as an 
independent nation is an act of war. They have no more right to recog- 
nize them, because we say to them, "We will deal with you as belligerent 
alien enemies," than they would have to treat with them if we hold them 
simply as rebels ; and no country is more sternly and strongly bcund by 
that view than is England, because she claimed the recognition by France 
of our independence to be an act of war, and declared war accordingly. 
[Applause.] Therefore, 1 do not see why we lose any rights. We do not 
admit that this is a rightful rebellion — we do not recognize it as such — we 
do not act toward it except in the best way we can to put it down and to 
re-revolutionize the country. What is the duty, then, of neutrals, if these 
are alien enemies ? We thus find them a people with whom no neutral 
nation has any treaty of amity or alliance : they are strangers to every 
neutral nation. For example, let us take the English. The English na- 
tion have no treaty with the rebels — have no relations with the rebels — 
open relations I mean [laughter], none that are recognized by the laws of 
nations. They have a treaty of amity, friendship and commerce with us, 
and now what is their duty in the contest between us and our enemies, to 
whom they are strangers ? They claim it to be neutrality, only such neu- 
trality as they should maintain between two friendly nations with each of 
whom they have treaties of amity. Let me illustrate : I have two friends that 
have got into a quarrel — into a fight, if you please ; I am on equally good 
terms with both, and I do not choose to take a part with either. I treat 
them as belligerents, and hold myself neutral. That is the position of 
a nation, where two equally friendly nations are fighting. But, again, I 
have a friend who is fighting with a stranger, with whom I have nothing 
to do, of whom I know nothing that is good, of whom I have seen nothing 
except that he would fight — what is my duty to my friend, in that case? 
To stand perfectly neutral V It is not the part of a friend so to do, be- 



17 Z/IG 

tween men, and it is not the part of a friendly nation as between nations. 
And yet, from some strange misconception, our English friends profess to 
do no more than to stand perfectly neutral, while they have treaties of 
amity and commerce with us and no treaty which they acknowledge with 
the South. (Applause.) 

TIX£ DUTY OF FOREIGN XATI0N3 TOWARD THE UNITED STATES IN TIllS 

CONTEST. 

And, therefore, I say there is a much higher duty on the part of foreign 
nations toward us when we are in contest with a people with which they 
have no treaty of amity, than there possibly can be toward them. To 
illustrate how this fact bears upon this question : the English say, " Oh ! 
we are going to be neutral ; we will not sell you any arms, because to be 
neutral strictly we should have to sell the same to the Confederates." To 
that I answer : You have treaties of amity and commerce with us by 
which you have agreed to trade with us. You have no treaty of amity and 
commerce witli them by which you agree to trade with theiii. Why not, 
then, trade with us ? why not give us that rightful }ireference, except for 
reas ns of hostility to us that I will state hereafter? I have been thus 
j»articular upon this, because in stating my proposition to gentlemen in 
whose judgment I have great confidence, they have said to me, '• 1 agree with 
your theory, Mr. lUitler, but I am afraid you will involve us with other 
nations, by the view that you take of that matter." lUit I insist, and I 
can only state the pro|K3sition, for want of time — your own minds will 
carry it out j»articularly — 1 insist that there is a higher and closer duty to 
us — treating the rebels as a strange nation, not yet admitted into the fam- 
ily of nations — that there is a higher duty from our old friendship on her 
part, from our old relations toward (ireat liritain, than there is to this 
rebellious, pushing, attcmpting-to-get-into-place member of the family of 
nations. 

IIOW THE C01:NTRV .may BE RE-UNITED. 

There is still another logical sequence which, in my judgment, follows 
from this view of the ca.se. The great <juestion put to me by my friends, 
and the great question which is now agitating this country, is. How are 
we to get these men back ? how are we to get this territory back V how 
arc we to re-construct the nation ? 1 think it is much better answered 
upon this hypothesis than any other: There are but two ways in which 
this contest can be ended ; one is by rc-revolutionizing a portion of this 
seceding territory, and have the people ask to be admitted into the Union; 
another is, to bring it all back, so that if they do not come back in the 
first way, they shall come back bound to our triumphal car of victory. 
[-Vpplause. ] Now, when'any jiortion of the South becomes loyal to the 
North and to the Tnion, or, to express it with more care, when any por- 
tion of the inhabitants of the South wish to become again a part of the 
nation, an<l will thrnv off the government of Jefferson Davis, erect them- 
selves into a State, and come and ask us to take them back with such a 
State Constitution as they ought to be admitted under, there is no difficul- 
ty in its being done. There is no witchery about this. This precise thing 
has been done in the case of Western Virginia. She went out — stayed 
out for a while. Hy the aid of our armies, and by the efforts of her citi- 
izcns, she re-revolutionized ; threw off the Government of the rest of the 



18 

State of Virginia ; threw off the Confederate yoke ; erected herself into a 
State, with a Constitution such as I believe is quite satisfactory to all of 
us, especially the amendment. [Applause.] She has asked to come back, 
and has been received back, and is the first enteriDg wedge of that series 
of States who will come back that way. But suppose they will not come 
back? We are bound to subjugate them. What, then, do they become? 
Territories of the United States — [great applause] — acquired by force 
of arms — [renewed applause] — precisely as we acquired California, pre- 
cisely as we acquired Nevada, precisely as we acquired — not exactly, 
though — as we acquired Texas — [laughter] ; and then is there any diffi- 
culty in treating with these men ? Was there any difficulty in dealing 
with the State of California, when our men went there and settled in suf- 
ficient numbers so as to give that State the benefits of the blessings of a 
republican form of Government ? Was there any difficulty in obtaining 
her, beyond our transactions with Mexico ? None whatever. Will there 
be any difficulty in taking to ourselves the new State of Nevada when she 
is ready to come and ripe to come ? Was there any difficulty in taking in- 
to the Cnion any portion of the Louisiana purchase, when wc bought it 
first ? Will there be an}^ difficulty, when her people get ready to come 
back to the United States, of our taking her back again, more than, per- 
haps, to carry out the parallel a little further, to pay a large sum of mon- 
ey besides, as we did m the case of California after we conquered it from 
Mexico? These States having gone out without cause, without right, 
without grievance, and having formed themselves into new States, and 
taken upon themselves new alliances, 1 am not for having them come back 
without readraission. I feel, perhaps, if the ladies will pardon the illus- 
tration, like a husband whose wife has run away with another man, and 
has divorced herself from him ; he will not take her to his arms until they 
have come before the priest and been remarried. [Laughter.] I have, 1 
say, the same feeliug in the case of these people that have gone out ; when 
they repent, and ask to come back, I am ready to receive them ; and I am 
not ready until then. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ARMY OF THE GULF VINDICATED. 

And now, having gone by far too discursively over many of these points 
which 1 desired to bring to your attention, let us return to what has been 
done, in the Department of the Gulf, to which you have so flatteringly al- 
luded, and to which I will answer. While I am very much gratified at the 
kind expression of your regard, whether that expression is justified can be 
told in a single word. When I left the Department of the Gulf, I sat 
dov/n and deliberately put in the form of an address, =•' to the people of that 
Department, the exact acts 1 had done while in their Department; I said 
to them, " I have done these things," I have now waited more than three 
months, and I have yet to hear a denial from that Department that 
the things therein stated were done. [Applause.] 

GEN. butler's answer TO ALL CALUMNIES. 

And to that alone, sir, I can point as a justification of your too flattering 
eulogy, and to that I point forever as my answer to every slander and 
every calumny. The ladies of New Orleans knew whether they were safe; 
has any one of them ever said she was not ? The men of New Orleans 
knew whether life and property were safe ; has any man ever said they 

*The Address is added as an appendix. 



were not ? I'he poor of New Orleans knew whether the money which was 
taken from the rich rebels, was applied to the alleviation of their wants ; 
has any man denied that it was ? To that record I point — and it will be 
the only answer that I shall ever make ; and I only do it now, because I desire 
that you shall have neither doubt nor feeling upon this subject — it is the 
only answer I can ever make to the thousand calumnies that have been 
poured upon me and mine, and upon the officers who worked with me for 
the good of our country. [Applause.] 

THE PROSPECT OF A SUCCESSFUL TERMINATION OF THE WAR. 

I desire now to say a single word upon the question, what are the pros- 
pects of this war ? My simple opinion would be no better than that of 
another man ; but let me show you the reason for the faith that is in me 
that this war is progressing steadily to a successful termination. Compare 
the state of the country on .lanuary 1, 1SC3, with the state of the country 
on January 1, 1^02, and tell me whether there has not been progress. At 
that time the I'nion armies held no considerable portion of Missouri, of 
Kentucky, or of Tennessee; none of Virginia, except Fortress Monroe and 
Arlington Heights; n<>ne of North Carolina save Hatteras, and none of 
South Carolina save Port Koyal. All the rest was ground of struggle at 
least, and all the rest furnishing supplies to the rebels. Now they hold 
none of Missouri, none of Kentucky, none of Tennessee, for any valuable 
]»urpo.se of sufiplies, because the western portion is in our hands, and the 
eastern portion has been i^o run over by the contending armies that the 
suj»pliea are gon».'. 'J'hey Ijold no portion of Virginia valuable for supplies, 
for that is eaten out ]»y their armies. AVe hold one-third of Virginia, and 
half of North Carolina. "\\'c hold our own in South Carolina ; and 1 hope 
that before the 1 llh of this month, we shall hold a little more. [Applause.] 
\Vc hold two-thirds of Louisiana, in wealth and population. AVe hold all 
Arkansas, and all 'iVxas. so far as supjdics are concerned, so long as Fnrra- 
gut is between Port Hudson and Vicksburg. [Applause.] And I believe 
the colored troops held Florida, at the last accounts. Now, then, let us 
see to what the rebellion is reduced. It is reduced to the remainder of 
^■irginia, part of Nortlrand South Carolina, all of Georgia, Alabama, and 
AHssissippi. and a small portion of Louisiana and Tennessee; Texas and 
Arkansas, as 1 said before, being cut off. Why 1 draw strong hopes from 
this is. that their supplies come either from Kentucky. Tennessee, Missouri, 
Arkansas, or Texas, and these are now completely beyond their reach. 
To this fact 1 look largely for the suppression of this rebellion, and the 
overthrow of this revolution. 

(K K RESOURCES COMl'ARED \VITn THOSE OF THE REBELS. 

They have got to the end of their conscription ; we have not begun ours. 
They have got to the end of their national credit ; we have not put ours 
in any market in the world. [Applause.] And why should any man be 
des{M.nding-.' why should any man say that this gi'cat work has gone on 
too slowly ? why should menfeel impatient ? The war of the Revolution 
was seven years. AVJiy should men be so anxious that nations should 
march faster than they arc prepared to march — faster than the tread of 
nations has ever been in the Providence of God ? Nations in war have 
ever moved slowly. AVe are too impatient — we never learn anything, it 
would seem to me. from reading historj' — I speak of myself as well as 



. 20 

you — I have shared in that impatience myself. I have shared in your 
various matters of disappointment. 

THE NAVY VINDICATED FOR NOT CATCHING THE ALABAMA. 

I was saying but the other day, to a friend of mine, "It seems strange 
to me that our navy cannot catch that steamer Alabama ; there must he 
something wrong in the Navy Department, I am afraid." and I got quite 
impatient. I had hardly got over the w^ound inflicted by the capture of 
the Jacob Bell, when came the piracies of the Golden Eagle, and the Olive 
Jane, and as one was from Boston, it touched me keenly. [Applause.] He 
replied: "Don't be impatient; remember that Paul Jones, with a sailing 
ship on the coast of England, put the whole British navy at defiance for 
many months, and wandered up and down that coast, and worked his will 
upon it, [applause,] and England had no naval power to contend with, 
and had not twenty-five hundred miles of sea-coast to blockade as we have. 
I remember that in the French war. Lord Cochrane, with one vessel, and 
that was by no means a steam-ship, held the whole French coast in terror 
against the French navy." And so it has been done by other nations. 
Let us have a little patience, and possess our souls with a little patriotism, 
and less politics, and we shall have no difliculty. [Applause, and "Good."] 

THE OUTRAGES OF ENGLAND TOWARD THE UNITED STATES. 

But there is one circumstance of this war, I am bound to say in all 
frankness to you, that I do not like the appearance of, and that is, be- 
cause we cannot exactly reach it. I refer to the war made upon our com- 
merce, which is not the fault of the navy, nor of any department of the 
Government, but is the fault of our allies. [Applause.] Pardon me a mo- 
ment, for I am speaking now in the commercial city of Xew York, where I 
think it is of interest to you, and of a matter to which I have given some 
reflection — pardon me a moment, while we examine and see what England 
has done. She agreed to be neutral — I have tried to demonstrate to you 
that she ought to have been a little more than neutral — but has she been 
even that? ["No, no, no."] Let us see the evidences of that "no." 
In the first place, there has been nothing of the Union cause that her ora- 
tors and her statesmen have not maligned — there has been nothing of sym- 
pathy or encouragement which she has not afforded our enemies — there has 
been nothing which she could do under the cover of neutrality which she 
has not done to aid them. [" That is true."] Nassau has been a naval 
arsenal for pirate rebel boats to refit in. Kingston has been their coal 
depot, and Barbadoes has been the dancing hall to fete pirate chieftains 
in. (Applause.) 

THE SYMPATHY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TVITH THE ENGLISH PEOPLE THE 

HATRED OF HER ARISTOCRACY. 

What cause, my friends — what cause, my countrymen, has England so to 
deal with us ? What is the reason she does so deal with us ? Is it be- 
cause we have never shown sympathy toward her or love to her people ? 
And mark me here, that I make a distinction between the English people 
as a mass and the English Government. (Applause.) I think the heart 
of her people beats responsive to ours — (applause) — but I know her Gov- 
ernment and aristocracy hate us with a hate which passeth all understand- 
ing. (Applause.) I say, let us see if we have given any cause for this. 
I know, I think, what the cause is ; but let us see what we have done. 



21 U.<^d 

OUR CHARITIES TO THE STARVING POOR OP ENGLAND AND IRELAND. 

You remember that when the famine overtook the Irish in 1847, the 
Macedonian frigate carried oul the bread from this country to feed the 
poor that Eughmd was starving. (Applause.) AVhen afterward the heir 
to her throne arrived here, aye, in this very house, our people assembled to 
do him welcome in such numbers that the very floor would not uphold 
them (laughter.) and to testify our appreciation of the high qualities of 
his mother and sovereign, and our love of the English people — we gave 
him such a reception as Northern gentlemen give to their friends ; and 
his present admirers at liichmond gave him such a reception as Southern 
gentlemen give to their friends. (Laughter and applause.) AVhat further 
lias been done by us ? Xo, 1 have no right to claim any portion of it. 
What has been done by the merchants of New York? The George Gris- 
wold goes out to feed the starving poor of Lancashire, to which yourselves 
all contributed, and it was only God's blessing on that charity that pre- 
vented that vessel being overhauled and burned by the Alabama, fitted out 
from an Lnglish port. (Applause.) 

THE ENGLISH REBEL PIRATE FLEET. 

And to-day, at J Birkenhead, the Sumtc?' is being fitted out — at Barba- 
docs the cajitain of the Florida is \)Q\\v^ feted — and somewhere the "2'JO," 
the calialistic number of the British merchants who contributed to her con- 
striictiiju, is jiruying u]>on our commerce, while we hear that at Glasgow a 
steamer is being built for tlie Kmperor of China — (laughter; — and at 
Liveri»o(>l another is about to be launched for the Kmperor of China, 
i'urdon me. 1 don't believe the Kmperor of China will buy many ships of 
(Meat Jiritaiii, until they l»ring back tlie silk gowns they stole out of his 
palace at Tekin. (Laughter and great applause.) xVnd even now, 1 say 
tliat our commerce is being preyed upon, by ships in the hands of the 
rolK'ls, built by Knglish builders. (Cries of " That's so.") And 1 ask 
the merchants of the city of New York whether it has not already reached 
the point where our commerce, to be safe, has to be carried in British bot- 
toms. [Great applause.) 

EN(;LI>H TREACHERY AND DIPLICITY. 

Now, 1 learn from the late correspondence of Karl Bussell with the reb- 
el commissioner .Mason, that the IJritish have put two articles of the treaty 
of i'aris in compact with the rebels— first, that enemies' goods shall be 
covered by neutral flags, and there shall be free trade at the ports, and ^ 
ofttMi trade with neutrals. Why didn't (ireat liritain put the other part 
of the treaty in compact ; namely, that there should be no more privateer- 
inir. if slie was honest and earnest, and did not mean our commerce 
should be crippled by rebel piracy ? Again, when we took from her deck 
our two senators and rebel ambassadors, Slidcll and Mason, and took 
them, in my judgment, according to the laws of nations, what did she do 
but threaten us with war '! 1 agree that it was wisely done, perhaps, not 
to provoke war at that time — we were not t^uite in a condition for it— but 
1 thank God. and that always, that we arc fast getting in a condition to 
remember that threat always, and every day ! [Tremendous applause, 
and waving of handkerchiefs, and cries of " Good ! "J Why is it all this 
has been done V Jiecause we alone can be the commercial rivals of Great 
Britain ! and because the South has no commercial marine. 



22 



OUR COMMERCE TO BE RUINED. 

There has "been, in my judgment, a deliberate attempt on the part of 
Great Britain, under the plea of neutrality; to allow onr commerce to be 
ruined, for her own benefit, if human actions indicate human thoughts. 
[Cries of *' That is so."] It is idle to tell me Great Britain does not know 
these vessels are fitted out in her ports. It is idle and insulting to tell 
me that she put the Alabama under $20,000 bonds, not to go into the ser- 
vice of the Confederate States. The Jacob Bell alone would pay the 
amount of the bond over and over again. 

WE PRESERVED OUR NEUTRALITY IN THE WAR WITH RUSSIA. 

We did not so deal with her when she was at wai- with Eussia. On the 
suggestion of the British Minister, our Government stopped, with the rap- 
idity of lightning, the sailing of a steamer, supposed to be for Eussia, un- 
til the minister himself was convinced of her good faith and willing to let 
her go. We must take some means to put a stop to these piracies, and to 
the fitting out of pirate vessels in English ports. They are always telling 
us about the inefficiency of a republican government, but as they are act- 
ing now, we could stop two pirates to their one. [Applause.] We must, 
in some way, put a stop to the construction and fitting out of these pirate 
vessels in English ports to prey upon our commerce, or else consent to keep 
our ships idle at home. We must stop them — we must act upon the peo- 
ple of England, if we cannot secure a stoppage in any other way. [Ap- 
plause.] 

THE IMMENSE LOSS TO OUR COMMERCE. 

I have seen it stated that the loss to our commerce already amounts to 
$9,000,000 — enough to have paid the expense of keeping a large number 
of vessels at home, and out of the way of these cruisers. 

OUR REMEDY. 

What shall we do in the matter? Why, when our Government takes 
a step toward putting a stop to it, (and I believe it is taking that step, 
now, but it is not in my province to speak of it,) we must aid it in so do- 
ing. [Great applause.] We, the people, are the Government in this 
Inatter, and when our Government gets ready to take a step, \ye must get 
ready to sustain it. [Applause.] 

FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF ENGLAND. 

England told us what to do when we took Mason and Slidell, and she 
thought there was a likelihood to be war. She stopped exportation of 
those articles which she thought we wanted, and which she had allowed. to 
be exported before. Let us do the same thing. [Applause.] 

PROCLAIM NON-INTERCOURSE STOP SUPPLIES OF FOOD. 

Let us proclaim non-intercourse, so that no ounce of American food shall 
ever by any accident get into an Englishman's mouth, until these piracies 
cease. [Laughter and applause.] 

[A voice: " Say that again ! "] 

Gen. BuTLER-t I never say anything, my friends that I am afraid to 
say again. [Applause.] I repeat — let us proclaim non-intercourse, so 
that no ounce of American food shall by any accident get into an English- 
man's mouth, until these piracies are stopped. ^Applause.] That we have a 
right to do ; and when we ever do do it, my word for it, the English Gov- 
ernment will find out where these vessels are going to, and they will write 



23 7-af 

to the Emperor of China upon the subject. [Applause.] But I hear 
some objectors say, "If you proclaim non-intercourse, England may go to 
war." Now, I am not to be frightened twice running. [Laughter.] I got 
frightened a little better than a year ago, but I have gotten over it. [Great 
laughter.] Further, this is a necessity ; for we must keep our ships at 
home in some form to save them from these piracies, when a dozen of these 
privateers get loose upon the seas. It will become a war measure which 
any nation, under any law, under any construction, would warrant our 
right to enforce. 

ALL OTHER NATIONS BUT ENGLAND BEHAVING WELL. 

And this course should be adopted toward the English nation alone, for 
1 have never heard of any blockade runners under the French flag, nor 
under the Russian flag, nor under the Austrian flag, nor under the Greek 
flag. No I not even the Turks will do it. [Applause.] Therefore, I 
have ventured to suggest the adoption of this course, for your consideration 
as a possible, aye, not only possible, but, unless this state of things has a 
remedy, a probable event ; for we must see to it that we protect ourselves 
and take a manly place among the nations of the earth. [Applause.] 
liut I hear some friend of mine say, " I am afraid your scheme would 
bring down our provisions ; and if we do not export them to England 
we shall find our western markets still more depressed." Allow me, 
with great deference to your judgment, gentlemen, to suggest a remedy for 
that at the same time. 

EXPORTATION OF GOLD TO BE I'ROHIBITED THE WEST TO REAP THE 

ADVANTAGE. 

I would suggest that the exportation of gold be prohibited, and then 
there would be nothing to forward to meet the bills of exchange and pay 
for the goods we have bought, except our provisions. And, taking a hint 
from one of your best and most successful merchants, we could pa3^ for our 
silks and satins in butter, and lard, and corn, and beef, and pork, and 
bring up the prices in the West, so that they could afi"ord to pay the in- 
creased tariff" in bringing them forward now rendered necessary, 1 suppose, 
upon your railroads. [Applause. ] And if our fair sisters and daughters 
will dress in silks, and satins, and laces, they will not feel any more 
truulded that a portion of the price goes to the Western farmer to enhance 
his giiins instead of going into the coffers of a Jew Banker in Wall street. 
[Applause. | 

Orn LEADING POLITICIANS TAMI'ERING WITH ENGLAND FOR A DISRUPTION 

OF THE UNION. 

You will o1)Sorve. my friends, that in the list of grievances with which 
1 charge i-.ngland. 1 have not charged her with tampering with our leading 
j'olitii-ians. ( Laughter. ) So far as any evidence i have, I don't know 
that she is guiky ; but what shall we say of our leading politicians that 
have tampered with her? [ Laughter.] I have read of it in the letters 
of Lord Lyons with much surprise — with more surprise than has been 
excited in mc by any other fact of this war. 1 had, somehow, got an inkling 
of the various things that came up in previous instances, so 1 was not very 
much surprised at them ; but when 1 so read a statement, deliberately put 
forward, that here in New York — leading politicians had consulted with 
the British minister as to how these I'nited States could be separated and 



24 

broken up, every drop ofWood in my veins boiled ; and I would bave liked 
to bave met tbat leading politician. [Tremendous applause.] I do not 
know tbat Lord Lyons is to blame. I suppose, sir, if a man comes to one 
of your clerks and offers to go into partnership with bim to rob your 
neighbor's bank, and be reports him to you, you do not blame the clerk ; 
but what do you do with the man who makes the offer ? [Laughter.] 
[A voice: "Hang him!"] 

HOW WASHINGTON MET SUCH TRAITORS. 

I think we had better take a lesson from the action of Washington's 
administration — when the French Minister, M. Genet, undertook even to 
address the people of the United States by letter, complaint was made to 
his government, and he was recalled, and a law was passed preventing, for 
all future time, any interference by foreign diplomatists with the people of 
the United States. 

THE PROPOSITION OF THE DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS THAT THE BRITISH 
SHOULD AID IN THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR GOVERNMENT. 

I want to be understood — I have no evidence of any interference on the 
part of Lord Lyons ; but he says in his letter to Earl Kussell that, both 
before and after a certain event, leading politicians came to him and de- 
sired that he would do what — (I am giving the substance and not words) — 
desired that he would request his Grovernment not to interfere between the 
North and South. Why ? Because it would aid the country not to inter- 
fere ? No ! Because, if England did interfere, the country would spurn 
the interference, and be stronger than ever to crush the rebellion. Mark 
again the insidious way in which the point was put. They knew how we 
felt because of the action of England — they knew that the heart of this 
people beat true to the Constitution, and that it could not brook any in- 
terference on the part of England. What, then, did these politicians do ? 
They asked the British Minister to use the influence of British diplomacy 
to induce other nations to interfere, but to take care that Great Britain 
should keep out of sight, lest we should see the cat under the meal. 
[Laughter.] This is precisely the proposition that they made. You ob- 
serve, that in speaking of these men, I have, up to this moment, used the 
•word politicians: What kind of politicians? [A voice , "Copperheads." 
Hisses and groans.] They cannot be Democratic politicians. [" Of 
course, they cannot."] 

LORD LYONS CALLS THEM CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS. 

How I should like to hear Andrew Jackson say a few words upon such 
politicians who call themselves Democrats! [" He would hang them."] 
No, I don't think he would have an opportunity to do so ; he never would 
be able to catch them. [Laughter.] I have felt it my duty here in the 
city of New York, because of the interest I have in public affairs, to call 
attention to this most extraordinary fact — that there are men in the com- 
munity so lost to patriotism, so bound up in the traditions of party, so 
selfish, as to be willing to tamper with Great Britain in order to bring 
about the separation of this country. It is the most alarming fact that I 
have yet seen. I had rather see a hundred thousand men set. in the field 
on the rebel side — aye, I had rather see Great Britain armed against us 
openly, as she is covertly — than to be forced to believe that there are 
amongst us such men as these, lineal descendants of Judas Iscariot, inter- 
married with the race of Benedict Arnold. [" Wood," "Brooks."] 



25 

BHCAUSE OF THE TREACHERY OF POLITICIANS THE PEOPLE MUST STAND BT 
lUE GOTERNMENT. 

It has shown me a great danger with which we are threatened, and I 
call upon all true men to sustain the Government — to be loyal to the 
Government. [Loud cheers.] As you, Sir, were pleased to say, the pres- 
ent Govcrpment was not the Government of my choice — I did not vote for 
it, or for any part of it ; but it is the Government of my country, it is the 
only organ by which I can exert the force of the country to protect its in- 
tegrity ; and as long as I believe that Government to be honestly admin- 
istered. I will throw a mantle over any mistakes that I may think it has 
made, and support it heartily, with hand and purse, so help me God I 
[Prolonged cheering.] 

WHAT IS LOYALTY TO THE GOVERNMENT ? 

I have no loyalty to any man or men ; my loyalty is to the Govern- 
ment ; and it makes no difference to me who the people have chosen to ad- 
minister the Government, so long as the choice has been constitutionally 
made, and the persons so chosen hold their places and powers. I am a 
traitor and a false man if I falter in my support. [Applause.] This is 
what I understand to be loyalty to a Government ; and I was sorry to 
learn, as I did the other day, that there was a man in Xew York who pro- 
fessed not to know the meaning of the word loyult}-. [Hisses, groans, and 
cries of '* Wood." j I desire to say here that it is the duty of every man 
to be loi/al to the Government, to sustain it, to pardon its errors, and help 
it to rectify tlicm, and to do all lie can to aid it in carrying the country 
on in the course of glory and gi'andeur in which it was started by our 
fathers. 

NO FIUEM) OF Ills COt'NTUY CAN OPPOSE IT IN TIME OF WAR. 

Let me say to you. my friends — to vuu, young men, that no man who 
opposed his country in time of war ever prospered. [" That's so."] The 
Tory of the Kevolution, the Hartford Conventionist, of 1812, the immor- 
tal seven who voted against the supplies for the Mexican War — all his- 
tory is against these men. Let no politician of our day put himself in 
the way of the march of this country to glory and greatness, for whoever 
docs 80 will surely be crushed. The course of our nation is onward, and 
let him who opposes it beware, 

" The iiiowor mows on — though the addtr may writhe. 
Or the copperhead coil round the blade ot his scythe." 

[ Loud ap})lause.] It only remains, sir, for me to repeat the expression of 
my gratitude to you and the citizens of New York here assembled, for the 
kindness with which you and they have received me and listened to me. 
for which, please, again accept my thanks. [Prolonged cheering.] 

.\t the conclusion of Gen. Bctler's address the Glee Club sang with 
fine effect, an original patriotic song, which was received with general fa- 
vor by the audience, who then called variously for Brady, Van Buren, 
and other popular favorites ; but. in accordance with the plan of the even- 
ing, the Mayor promptly adjourned the meeting, while hundreds availed 
themselves of the opportunity to shake Gen. Butler by the hand, and 
congratulate him on hia absolute refutation of the slanders of the rebels 
of the South and the Copperheads of the North. 



ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW 
ORLEANS. 



Citizens of ]^ew Orleans : 

It may not be inappropriate, as it is not inopportune in occasion that 
there should be addressed to you a few words at parting, by one whose 
name is to be hereafter indissolubly connected with your city. 

I shall speak in no bitterness, because I am not conscious of a single 
personal animosity. Commanding the Army of the Gulf, I found you 
captured, but not surrendered ; conquered, but not orderly ; relieved from 
the presence of an army, but incapable of taking care of yourselves. So 
far from it, you had called upon a Foreign Legion to protect you from 
yourselves. 1 restored order, punished crime, opened commerce, brought 
provisions to your starving people, reformed your currency, and gave you 
quiet protection, such as j^ou had not enjoyed for many years. 

While doing this, my soldiers were subjected to obloquy, reproach and 
insult. And now, speaking to you who know the truth, 1 here declare, 
that whoever has quietly remained about his business, affording neither aid 
nor comfort to the enemies of the United States, has never been interfered 
with by the soldiers of the United States. 

The men who assumed to govern you and to defend your city in arms hav- 
ing fied, some of your women flouted at the presence of those who came to 
protect them. By a simple Order, (No, 28) I called upon every soldier of 
this army to treat the women of New Orleans as gentlemen should deal 
with the sex, with such effect that I now call upon the just-minded ladies 
of New Orleans to say whether they have ever enjoyed so complete protec- 
tion and calm quiet for themselves and their families, as since the advent 
of the United States troops. 

The enemies of my country, unrepentant and implacable, I have treated 
with merited severity. I hold that rebellion is treason, and treason per- 
sisted in is death, and any punishment short of that due a traitor gives so 
much clear gain to him from the clemency of the Government. Upon this 
thesis have I administered the authority of the United States, because of 
which I am not unconscious of complaint. I do not feel that I have erred 
in too much harshness, for that harshness has ever been exhibited to dis- 
loyal enemies to my country, and not to loyal friends. To be sure, I might 
have regaled you with the amenities of British civilization, and yet have 
been within the supposed rules of civilized warfare. You might have been 
smoked to death in caverns, as were the Covenanters of Scotland, by the 
command of a General of the Royal House of England, or roasted like the 
inhabitants of Algiers during the French campaign. Your wives and 
daughters might have been given over to the ravisher, as were the unfortu- 
nate damfs of Spain in the Peninsula war; or you might have been 



27 ^ // 

Bcalped or tomahawked, as our mothers were at Wyoming, by the eavago 
allies of Great Britain, in our own revolution ; your property could have 
been turned over to indiscriminate "loot," like the palace of the Emperor 
of China ; works of art, which adorned your buildings, might have been 
sent away like the paintings of the Vatican : your sons might have been 
blown from the mouths of cannon, like the Sepoys at Delhi ; and yet all 
this would have been within the rules of civilized warfare, as practiced by 
the most polished and the most hypocritical nations of Europe. For such 
acts, the records of tlie doings of some of the inhabitants of your city to- 
wards the friends of the f'nioii, before my coining, wore a sufficient provo- 
cative and justitication. 

But 1 have not so conducted. ("Jn the contrai^-, the worst punishment 
inflicted, except for criminal acts punishable by every law, has been ban- 
isiiment. with hibor. to a barren island, where I encamped my own soldiers 
before marching here. 

It is true 1 have levied upon the wealthy rebel, and paid out nearly half 
a million dollars to feed forty thousand of the starving poor of all nations 
assembled here, made so by the war. 

1 saw that this rebellion was a war of the aristocrats against the middling 
men ; of the rich against the poor ; a-war of the land-owner against the 
laborer ; that it was a struggle for the retention of power in the hands of 
the few against the many ; and I found no conclusion to it save in the 
subjugation of the few and the disenthralment of the many. I therefore 
felt no hesitation in taking the substance of the wealthy, who had caused 
the war, to feed the innocent poor, who had suffered by the war. And I 
shall now leave you with the proud consciousness that 1 carry with me the 
blessings of the humble and loyal under the roof of the cottage and in the 
cabin of the slave, and so am quite content to incur the sneers of the salon 
or the curses of the rich. 

I found you trembling at the terrors of servile insurrection. All dan- 
ger of this 1 have prevented by so treating the slave that he had no cause 
to rebel. 

1 found the dungeon, the chain, and the lash your only means of enfor- 
cing obedience in your servants. 1 leave them peaceful, laborious, con- 
trolled by the laws of kindness and justice. 

1 have demonstrated that the pestilence can be kept from your borders, 

I have added a million of dollars to your wealth in the form of new land 
from the batture of the Mississippi. 

I have cleansed and improved your streets, canals, and public squares, 
and opened new avenues to unoccupied land. 

1 have given you freedom of elections, greater than you have ever en- 
joyed before. 

I have caused justice to be administered so impartially, that your own 
advocates have unanimously complimented the Judges of my appointment. 

You have seen, therefore, the benefit of the laws and justice of the Gov- 
ernment against which you have rebelled. 

Why. then, will you not all return to 3^our allegiance to that Gov- 
erument — not with lip-service, but with your heart? 

I conjure you. if you ever desire to see renewed prosperity, giving busi' 
ness to your streets and wharves — if you hope to see your city become 
again the mart of the AVcstern world, fed by its rivers for more than three 
thousand miles, draining the commerce of a country greater than the mind 
of man hath ever conceived — return to your allegiance. 






if you desire to leave to your children the inheritance you received of 
your fathers— a stable Constitutional Government — if you desire that they 
should be in the future a portion cf the greatest empire the sun ever shone 
upon — return to your allegiance. 

There is but one thing that stands in the way. 

There is but one thing that at this hour stands between you and the 
Government, and that is Slavery. 

The institution, cursed of God, which has taken its last refuge here, in 
His providence will be rooted out as the tares from the wheat, although the 
wheat be torn up with it. 

I have given much thought to this subject. 

I came among you, by teachings, by habit of mind, by political posi- 
tion, by social affinity, inclined to sustain your domestic laws, if, by pos- 
sibility, they might be with safety to the Union. 

Months of experience and of observation have forced the conviction that 
the existence of Slavery is incompatible with the safety either of your- 
selves or of the Union. As the system has gradually grown to its present 
huge dimensions, it were best if it could be gradually removed ; but it is 
better, far better, that it should be taken out at once, than that it should 
longer vitiate the social, political and family relations of your country. 
I am speaking with no philanthropic views as regards the slave, but simply 
of the effect of Slavery on the master. See for yourselves. 

Look around you and say whether this saddening, deadening influence 
has not all but destroyed the very frame-work of your society. 

I am speaking the farewell words of one who has shown his devotion to 
his country, at the peril of his life and fortune, who in these words can 
have neither hope nor interest, save the good of those whom he addresses ; 
and let me here repeat, with all the solemnity of an appeal to Heaven to 
bear me witness, that such are the views forced upon me by experience. 

Come, then, to the unconditional support of the Government. Take into 
your own hands your own institutions ; re-model them according to the 
laws of nations and of God, and thus attain that great prosperity assured 
to you by geogi'aphical position, only a portion of which was heretofore 
yours, BENJ. F. BUTLER. 



LB D '05 



LIBRARY OF CO^:GS 




012 028 974 3 







A^ 




